France is preparing to file a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice over the prolonged denial of consular access to two French citizens detained in Tehran for nearly three years, the French foreign ministry announced on Thursday.
Cecile Kohler and her partner, Jacques Paris, were arrested in May 2022. Later that year, Iranian state television broadcast a video in which the pair appeared to confess to working for French intelligence,an accusation that France has firmly rejected.
Currently held in Tehran’s Evin prison, the couple is reportedly enduring conditions that France has likened to torture.
French authorities have increasingly criticized Iran, not only for its nuclear ambitions and regional activities but also for its imprisonment of European nationals.
Following a special cabinet meeting on Iran, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot signaled that Paris would escalate the matter by pursuing legal action at the ICJ.
“We are putting together a complaint that we will file at the ICJ,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine confirmed during a press briefing on Thursday, describing the prisoners’ treatment as “shocking.”
While Lemoine did not specify when the complaint would be lodged, he acknowledged that ICJ proceedings could be lengthy.
However, he emphasized that Iran must be held accountable for breaching its obligations, noting that the French embassy and consulate had been denied access to Kohler and Paris for over a year.
“It’s in violation of Iran’s obligations,” Lemoine stated, referencing the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained numerous foreign and dual-national individuals in recent years, often citing security and espionage charges.
Rights organizations argue that such arrests serve as a means for Tehran to gain diplomatic leverage, an allegation Iran denies, asserting that it does not use detainees as bargaining tools and does not recognize dual nationality.
